SUWANEE, Ga. - SCAC teams fared quite well against nationally ranked teams the week of March 14-20. Millsaps won two against defending national champion No. 11 Illinois Wesleyan. Rhodes beat No. 16 Wooster and Oglethorpe upset No. 3 Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Additionally, Hendrix won two of three against SCAC rival and No. 24 Millsaps in league play March 19-20.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College went 1-4 on the week, falling
7-3 to UT-Dallas and 6-3 to East Texas Baptist before taking one of
three versus SCAC rival and No. 12-ranked Trinity over the weekend.
The ‘Roos got the weekend off to a strong start with a 6-2
win over Trinity, with Steed once again giving a masterful
performance on the mound. Steed needed only 79 pitches to earn the
complete game win over the Tigers, while Tyler Appelquist went
2-for-3 with two runs batted in. In the second game, the
‘Roos were tied 3-3 heading into the third but the Tigers
scored six unanswered to hand AC the 9-3 loss, and in the final
game of the weekend the two teams were once again tied at 3-3, this
time heading into the seventh, when Trinity plated a pair of runs
in the seventh and the Roos were unable to answer.
Birmingham-Southern (No. 9 – ABCA) was 4-0
this week with a home win against LaGrange, 8-4, on Wednesday, and
a three-game sweep of Centre over the weekend. The Panthers won
4-1, 4-1 on Saturday, and 8-1 on Sunday, and have now won four
straight games. As a team, BSC is out-scoring its opponents by more
than double, 172-79, and out-hitting teams 220-169. The Panther
pitching staff has a combined ERA of 2.84 with a .255 opponent
batting average and 151 strikeouts. BSC returns home again this
weekend for a conference series against Rhodes, Saturday and
Sunday.
Centre lost all four games last week falling 13-7
on the road to No. 25 Thomas More and then losing its first three
SCAC games of the year to Birmingham Southern. The Colonels fell
4-1 in both game one and game two of the three-game series and then
dropped the series’ finale 8-1 to fall to 6-12 overall and
0-3 in the league. Centre will take to the road this week to play
Piedmont Tuesday, Emory Wednesday and then Oglethorpe in a
three-game series Saturday and Sunday.
DePauw dropped all four games last week with three being decided in the opponents' final at-bat. DePauw opened with a 7-5 loss to rival Wabash before losing a doubleheader at Rhodes on Saturday by scores of 2-0 and 4-3. The Tigers' week ended with an 8-7 loss at Rhodes in 10 innings on Sunday. DePauw held a 5-2 lead against Wabash, but the Little Giants tied it up with three in the seventh and won it with two in the ninth. In Saturday's second game, Rhodes scored one in the bottom of the ninth to win and on Sunday the Lynx scored three in the ninth to tie the game and one in the 10th to win. Rob McPike hit .429 for the week and led the Tigers with five runs and six hits. For the season, Gardner has reached base in all 18 games.
Millsaps got a pair of wins over defending national champion and 11th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan before going 1-2 at Hendrix over the weekend. Tuesday's first game with Illinois Wesleyan went just seven innings as the Majors dismantled the Titans 15-4 at Twenty Field. Game two was much closer, with the Majors coming out on top 8-5. The Majors fended off a Titan surge in the seventh with back-to-back home runs from Jules Roussel and Will Hawkins. Two of the three-game set in Conway were decided by one run, the third game went 11 innings to find a winner, but the Majors came away with just one win in the series. Saturday's double header was split with the Warriors taking game one 6-2 before the Majors got game two 5-4. Millsaps scored four runs in the top of the ninth to pull out the win. Millsaps will head over to Montgomery on Tuesday to take on Huntingdon College before hosting LaGrange College for a three-game weekend set at Twenty Field.
Oglethorpe had a breakout week, going 4-0 to improve their current winning streak to six games and getting their record above .500 for the first time this season. The week also included wins over D3baseball’s No. 3 ranked team Wisconsin Stevens-Point and an NCAA tournament team from last year in Washington & Jefferson. OU started the surge by bombing Arcadia 17-7 last Wednesday. The Petrels then traveled to Florida for spring break action where they topped McDaniel (W, 9-3), No. 3 Wisconsin Stevens-Point (W, 5-3) and Washington & Jefferson (W, 5-2) in successive days. Against McDaniel, The Petrels pounded out 16 hits in the contest. Brendan Pilger pounding out a pair of doubles. Matt Cornwell had two hits, including a home run. Against the Pointers on Saturday, Cory Leff launched a game-winning two-run bomb in the bottom of the 7th to lift the Stormy Petrels to the win. Cornwell nailed it down with a save in the 9th. The Petrles knocked off Wash. & Jeff. on Sunday.
Rhodes went 4-1 this week, splitting a double header with #16 Wooster to finish their Spring Break trip in Port Charlotte, Fla., and swept the first conference series of the year against visiting DePauw. Rhodes won the first game against Wooster 3-2 in 11 innings, behind outstanding pitching performances by sophomore Jackson Baker and senior Hunter Chandler. Baker worked 6 innings, allowed 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks and struck out 7. Chandler went 5 innings, allowed 1 hit, no runs, no walks, and struck out 7 to earn his 1st victory of the year. Rhodes took the first game 2-0 behind junior Austin Carden’s first complete game shutout of his collegiate career. He went 7 innings, allowed 4 hits, no runs, no walks, and struck out 4. The Lynx won the second game on Saturday 4-3 on a walk-off single to centerfield by sophomore SS Lynden Pindling. Rhodes completed the sweep Sunday in dramatic fashion as junior CF Travis Perkins hit a walk-off homerun to right field in the bottom of the 10th.
Sewanee completed the week with a 4-2 record in Russ-Matt Invitational play. The Tigers picked up wins over Washington College (10-7), Gordon College (10-9), Gallaudet (9-5), and MCLA (15-6), while they dropped contests to Dickinson (10-0) and Salem State (2-0). Against Gordon, the Tigers needed extra innings but a two-out, bases-loaded infield single by Allen Thigpen knocked in Chris Mauro for the game-winning run in the bottom of the tenth. On Saturday against MCLA, Sewanee trailed 6-4 heading into the seventh inning but exploded for eleven runs over the final three innings to take home the 15-6 win. Lee Schurlknight pitched a scoreless final inning for the Tigers, giving the freshman leftie a streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings. For the week, Jacob Simpson led the Tigers on the mound, earning two starts and pitching 14 innings. He struck out 23 batters while only walking three. Sewanee is now 7-9 on the season.
No. 10 Trinity was 3-2 over the past week, taking two out of three on the road against Austin College, and splitting two non-conference games during the week. The Tigers earned a 23-3 win over Cardinal Stritch on Tuesday night, and fell 6-2 at Texas Lutheran on Wednesday afternoon. Trinity split Saturday’s doubleheader with Austin College, losing 6-2 in the opening game, but bouncing back with a 9-3 win in game two. The Tigers took the weekend series with a 5-3 win on Sunday, which also gives them four wins in five games against Austin this season. In Thursday’s loss to Texas Lutheran, Kyle Felix broke Trinity’s career record for doubles, breaking a tie with Kenneth Sharp (2000-03). Trinity returns home briefly for a Tuesday game against Hardin-Simmons University – which received votes in the latest D3baseball.com poll – then returns to the road for a two-game SCAC weekend series at Hendrix.
For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 7, click here.
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